As Zimbabwe – along with the rest of the world – battles the COVID-19 Coronavirus global pandemic, EcoSure has announced plans to immediately support the country’s national health delivery system by equipping frontline medical staff with protective personal equipment (PPE), providing them with life and health insurance and offering them safe transport to and from work daily, for the coming 12 months.

“In the situation, we find ourselves in as a nation, we want to ensure all frontline medical staff is fully protected and we are putting in place measures that give them confidence as they carry out their noble duty of primary patient care and as they save lives,” said Mr. Eddie Chibi, the CEO of Cassava Smartech, the parent company of the EcoSure insurance business.

Giving details of the offer yesterday – which comes at a time there are two confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, and one confirmed death – EcoSure General Manager Mr. Godwin Mashiri said his organization would immediately begin the process of providing support for all medical practitioners – doctors and nurses – who go to work and attend to their duties at this critical time.

“We are offering free Personal Protective Equipment for all doctors and nurses who attend to their duties at this very critical time. We are also offering free Vaya transport to both nurses and doctors, so they can commute to and from work in safe and sanitized vehicles,” Mr. Mashiri said.

Vaya recently announced that it had taken the lead in promoting safe transportation during the COVID-19 epidemic by training its drivers in strict health and safety protocols, and equipping them with sanitizers and face masks, among other interventions.

“We will also be immediately offering life and health insurance in the form of a cash benefit of Z$500 per day, for each day of hospitalization, and a lump sum benefit of Z$50,000 in the event of permanent disability and eventual death caused by any accident,” said Mr. Mashiri. He added that the package would include a cash benefit of up to Z$30,000 in the event of death arising from any other cause apart from accidents.

“On top of that, we will also be offering 100 percent education scholarships for the children of any medical practitioner who takes up this offer to work in public hospitals or clinics at this time, should they pass on during this period.

Mr. Mashiri said the education scholarship would be administered by Higherlife Foundation through its Capernaum Scholarship.

Higherlife Foundation – which is funded by the Econet group of companies and by Delta Philanthropies, the social impact vehicle of the Econet founder Mr. Strive Masiyiwa and his family – has already been supporting hundreds of doctors who signed up to a Fellowship scholarship launched late last year.

The Fellowship, worth over Z$100 million, was offered amid a crippling, nation-wide strike by doctors that had left thousands of patients desperate and stranded. Higherlife said at the time that its main focus was the plight of the patients and that it sought to capacitate healthcare personnel to be able to treat patients.

Meanwhile, Mr. Chibi said the EcoSure COVID-19 package they just announced, would commence immediately and run for 12 months.

He said complimentary with the new measures, EcoSure had also partnered with the City Councils around the country to provide hand-washing basins in urban public places to promote sanitation and cleanliness that help prevent the spread of the virus.

“As a business, we are taking different measures to curb the spread of the Coronavirus both at our own workplaces and in public spaces,” Mr. Chibi said. He said all of Cassava Smartech’s staff members were now ‘telecommuting’ (working online from home) after the company made available digital platforms to ensure customer services were available all the time in the period the nation is battling the COVID-19 pandemic.